Anne Killigrew
| death_place = London, England | occupation = Poetess | nationality = English }} Anne Killigrew (1660 - 16 June 1685) was an English poet. Killigrew is perhaps best known as the subject of a famous elegy by poet John Dryden entitled To The Pious Memory of the Accomplish'd Young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew (1686). She was however a skilled poet in her own right; Dryden compared her poetic abilities to the famous Greek lyric poet of antiquity, Sappho. Life Killigrew was born in London in early 1660, before the English Restoration, at St. Martin's Lane in London. Not much is known about her mother Judith Killigrew, but her father, Dr. Henry Killigrew, published several sermons and poems as well as a play called The Conspiracy. Her two paternal uncles were also published playwrights: Sir William Killigrew (1606–1695) published 2 collections of plays; and Thomas Killigrew (1612–1683) not only wrote plays but built the theatre now known as Drury Lane. Her father and her uncles had close connections with the Stuart Court, serving Charles I, Charles II, and his Queen, Catherine of Braganza. Anne was made a personal attendant, before her death, to Mary of Modena, Duchess of York. Little is recorded about Killigrew's education, but it is common fact she kept up with her social class, and she had received instruction in both poetry and painting in which she excelled. Her theatrical background added to her used of shifting voices in her poetry. In John Dryden’s Ode to Anne he points out that “Art she had none, yet wanted none. For Nature did that want supply” (Stanza V). Killigrew most likely got her education through studying the Bible, Greek mythology, and philosophy]. Mythology was often expressed throughout her paintings and poetry. of Anne Killigrew, based on a self portrait she had painted.]] Killigrew excelled in multiple media. It is said that she has painted a total of 15 paintings; only four are known to exist today. They are all based on biblical and mythological imagery. It is unknown whether she based the poems on the paintings, or whether she had painted the paintings to complement her poetry. Both share an emphasis on nature and suggest female rebellion in a male-dominated society. Inspiration for Killigrew’s poetry came from her knowledge of Greek myths and Biblical proverbs as well as from some very influential female poets who lived during the Restoration period: Katherine Philips and Anne Finch (also a maid to Mary of Modena at the same time as Killigrew). Mary of Modena encouraged the French tradition of precieuses (patrician women intellectuals) which pressed women’s participation in theatre, literature, and music. In effect, Killigrew was surrounded with a poetic feminist inspiration on a daily basis in Court: she was encompassed by strong intelligent women who encouraged her writing career as much as their own. Killigrew died of smallpox on 16 June 1685, when she was only 25 years old. She is buried in the Chancel of the Savoy Chapel (dedicated to John the Baptist) where a monument was built in her honour, but has since been destroyed by a fire. Writing A short book of only 33 poems was published soon after Killigrew's death by her father. It was not abnormal for poets, especially for women, never to see their work published in their lifetime. Since Killigrew died at the young age of 25 she was able to produce only a small collection of poetry. In fact, the last 3 poems were found among her papers, and it is still being debated about whether or not they were actually written by her. The book also contains a self-portrait of Anne and the Ode by family friend and poet John Dryden. All of her poetry has beautiful and potent imagery, but she has often been criticized for having used well worn and conventional topics such as death, love, and the human condition. Alexander Pope, a prominent critic as well as the leading poet of the time, labelled her work “crude” and “unsophisticated.” So, the question has frequently been raised: is Killigrew so deserving of such an immortalizing Ode by Dryden? Had he even read her poetry to properly determine her skills? Some say Dryden defended all poets as teachers of moral truths, and therefore Killigrew, despite her lack of experience, deserved his praise. However, evidence shows that she might not have been ready to see some of her work published, such as the unfinished poem “Alexandreis,” about Alexander the Great. At the end of the poem, she expresses the feeling that the task was too great for her to take on and she would try to finish it at another time. Then, there is the question of the last 3 poems that were found among her papers. They seem to be in her handwriting, which is why Killigrew’s father added them to her book. The poems are about the despair the author has for another woman, and could possibly be autobiographical if they are in fact by Killigrew. Some of her other poems are about failed friendships, possibly with Anne Finch, so this assumption may have some validity. Publications * Poems. London: Samuel Lowndes,1686; facsimile edition, Gainsville, FL: Scholars’ Facsimiles & Reprints, 1967.Search results = au:Anne Killigrew, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Mar. 15, 2017. See also * List of British poets References *Clayton, Ellen C. English Female Artists, Volume 1 (Tinsley Brothers, 1876) pp. 59–84. *Ezell, Margaret J.M. The Patriarch’s Wife. (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1987) pp. 70, 124. *Doody, Margaret Anne. The Daring Muse: Augustan Poetry Reconsidered. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985) pp. 254–255. *Hester, M. Thomas (Ed.), Hurley, Ann. Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 131: Seventeenth Century British Nondramatic Poets (North Carolina State University. The Gale Group, 1993) pp. 112–119. *Killigrew, Anne. Poems (Gainsville: Scholars’ Facsimiles & Reprints, 1976). *Messenger, Ann. His & Hers: Essays in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Literature. (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1986) pp. 14–40. *Shuttleton, David E. “Anne Killigrew (1660-85): ’…let ‘em Rage, and ‘gainst a Maide Conspire’.” Women and Poetry, 1660-1750. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) pp. 29-39 *Velez-Nunez, Rafael. Broken emblems: Anne Killigrew’s Pictorial Poetry.” Re-shaping the Genres Restoration Women Writers. (Bern: Peter Lang, 2003) pp. 49–66. Notes External links ;Poems * Anne Killigrew 1660-1685 at the Poetry Foundation *Killigrew in A Book of Women's Verse: "On a Picture painted by Herself, representing Two Nymphs of Diana[," "[http://www.bartleby.com/291/35.html Upon the Saying that My Verses were made by Another," "Epitaph on Herself" * Selected Poetry of Anne Killigrew (1660-1685) (4 poems) at Representative Poetry Online *Anne Killigrew at My Poetic Side (profile & 9 poems) * Anne Killigrew at PoemHunter (33 poems) *Anne Killigrew at Poetry Nook (34 poems) ;About *Killigrew, Anne in Dictionary of National Biography *Anne Killigre (c.1660-1685) at A Celebration of Women Writers, University of Pennsylvania. ;Etc. *Venus Attired by the Three Graces (oil on canvas) Category:1660 births Category:1685 deaths Category:Deaths from smallpox Category:English poets Category:Women poets Category:English women writers Category:English painters Category:British women artists Category:Infectious disease deaths in England Category:English-language poets Category:17th-century poets Category:Poets Category:17th-century women writers